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You are here: Home / BikeTexas BikeNews / BikeNews; Advocacy / Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14

The inaugural Emancipation Bike Ride on June 14 followed a 60-mile route from the Port of Galveston to Emancipation Park in Houston. The ride celebrated Juneteenth as well as the successful passage of a bill, sponsored by Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee, to name the route “The Emancipation Trail.” This is only the second National Historic Trail in the US that honors Black history.

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis addresses the group of riders in Texas’ first AME church in Galveston.

The bike ride was led by Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Houston City Council Member Leticia Plummer, and District Judge Chuck Silverman. Houston civic leader and bicycle advocate, Michael Skelly, organized the event.

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Pier 21 in Galveston

Robin Stallings rode on behalf of BikeTexas. BikeHouston and Houston Parks Board were represented, along with many other Houston organizations.

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Historians address the group at the site of a Freedman’s home at the 1867 Settlement in Texas City.

Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger, accompanied by black and white federal troops, disembarked at the Port of Galveston and read President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Enslaved Texans finally learned that they were free, nearly two and a half years after the proclamation had been issued by Lincoln.

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Ride leaders (l to r) District Judge Chuck Silverman, Houston City Council Member Leticia Plummer, Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee, and Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis at Texas Southern University.

Along the Emancipation Trail route, a historian, a genealogist, a minister, a mayor told us about some of the history of landmarks we passed. Commissioner Ellis read the proclamation aloud to us at the oldest AME church in the country. Historians told us stories at the pier in Galveston and at a Freedman’s home about halfway through.

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Commissioner Ellis and Congresswoman Jackson Lee address riders at Emancipation Park in Houston.

Finally, Congresswoman Jackson Lee greeted us at Emancipation Park. She talked about the trail designation legislation and the significance of Juneteenth, and then on a somber note, discussed the tragic murders of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbrey and the systemic racism that still plagues our country, two hundred years after the Civil War.

Inaugural Emancipation Trail Ride on June 14
Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee and BikeTexas Executive Director Robin Stallings celebrate the Emancipation Trail.

We thank Congresswoman Jackson Lee for her hard work in getting this historic route officially recognized, and look forward to many generations of Texans and others seeing these historic sites firsthand as they ride the Emancipation Trail.

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